


New Constants, New Rocks, New Roots

by chewingonpearls (Reallife)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluffy, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Growing Up, Moving On, Slow Burn, finding yourself, repost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 13:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8579572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reallife/pseuds/chewingonpearls
Summary: Darcy Lewis has many loves. Many constants, and a lot of love to give.[repost]





	

  


Darcy Elizabeth Lewis has been in love with James Buchanan Barnes her whole charmed life.

It’s a constant. It’s reliable.

Like popsicles melting in the sun, Mrs. Rogers’ brownies attracting kids like the ice cream van, and the only person more offended by Darcy being told ‘You punch like a girl!’ than Darcy herself is Steve Rogers.

You can just rely on these sorts of things, and maybe that’s why Darcy is known for handling change so well. She has Steve, Bucky, and her love for Bucky--three things she is sure will last until the end of time.

You can trust her on this, she’s ten after all, it’s a very wise age.

 

Darcy Elizabeth Lewis has been in love with James Buchanan Barnes her whole _darned_ life.

Of course she isn’t the only person in love with him, and Bucky notices all the other girls(and even some of the boys) but not her. At least not in the sneaking-under-the-bleachers-to-make-out kind of way that she wants.

Other boys do, because Darcy is _~blossoming into a lady~_ (according to Grandma Lewis) and her mother’s less flower version--”Great you got the big tit genes like I did, Lord give me patience and extra ammunition.”

She’s also the first girl in her year to actually _need_ a bra.

But only Stevie seems to care, because he keeps getting into fights to defend her honor.

Which is sweet, really. But unnecessary, really, Darcy is thirteen and can definitely handle a bunch of jocks by now.

 

Darcy Elizabeth Lewis has been in love with James Buchanan Barnes her whole _blessed_ life.

Except.

Steve had a really late growth spurt.

(Or he started doing drugs behind her back)

Darcy is banking on the growth spurt.  
Other girls are noticing Steve too, which causes him to get all flushed and _aw shucks ma’am_ on them. Which, if he was trying to deter them that bit really didn’t help his cause.

The only girl Steve stays himself around when hormones start a’ brewin’?

Darcy.

Which she notices.

Then he notices that she starts blushing which is hilarious because Darcy Elizabeth Lewis comes from a family of sailors, bartenders and other professions one doesn’t talk about in public.

Needless to say--she does not blush.

Well. You know what happens with two 17 year olds in that sort of situation, don’t you?

 

Darcy Elizabeth Lewis has been in love with James Buchanan Barnes her whole _frustrating_ life, and if it was the last she was going to do she was going to wring his handsome neck.

He was leaving. _Enlisting_. Off to Basic and then Lord knows where to kill Lord knows who. Poor boy fighting the rich man’s war.

He rolls his eyes at the papers she’s written for her college classes she’s taking over the summer and the speeches she has been prepping for Collegiate Debate competitions about their corrupt government and money grubbing politicians.

They won’t take Steve, growth spurt or no, she at least still has him, even if he won’t stop goddamn sulking. Although Steve has _Sam_ to blush at now, so his sulking doesn’t really have the weight it normally would when people are envious of him. Darcy is happy for him, at least one of them should be happy, and Sam took the shovel talk very well.

James _look at my perfect silky hair_ Buchanan _look at my flawless biceps_ Barnes still doesn’t realize she’s a girl. But she’d give up the chance of that ever happening just to have him home.

She’s 18, and this is obviously the worst year of her life.

 

Darcy Elizabeth Lewis has been in love with James Buchanan Barnes her whole _  
Oh God he’s alive he’s alive he’s alive_ life.

 _He’s home._

With his sisters, his mother, Stevie and his folks, Darcy and her family and lets face it marriage or no the Barnes, Lewis’ and Rogers have sort of merged into one at this point.

They are all so happy to have him back and almost completely whole that they welcome--and don’t question-- the beautiful Russian woman who hardly leaves his side.

Sam sends her sympathetic looks from where an excited Steve clutches his hand. The adoring eyes Bucky sends Natasha should hurt Darcy, she knows that. Somewhere in her mind she thinks that she should feel jealous or heartbroken. Except she isn’t. That’s weird right?

Because she’s been in love with him her whole life. Everyone knows that. Right?

Right.

Darcy is 22, and she is already too old for this nonsense.

 

Darcy Elizabeth Lewis has been in love with James Buchanan Barnes her whole _confusing as shit_ life.

Thank goodness for life’s little blessings, like that her degree is in politics not psychology. Because her constants are falling away beneath her feet like so much sand. Steve and Sam have gone on some weird mountain retreat that involves hiking with _not enough safety equipment for chrissakes Steven Grant Rogers_ ( he may be trying to forget that a strong wind used to be enough to knock him down but she hasn’t) and skydiving.

Skydiving. What. Even.

Darcy helps Natasha plan surprises for Bucky like he isn’t the love of her life(he is, right?) and doesn’t blink. In her chest grows genuine affection for Natasha and high hopes for the two of them, she’s started to drop the word _godmother_ and her favorite Russian has stopped rolling her eyes and started looking thoughtful.

All at once, the loss of constants hits her and she’s at a dive bar doing shots.

Because you know. Short, buxom, young women doing shots at a shady bar alone always goes _fabulously._

Then it doesn’t, because Darcy is blessed, or maybe the man with the calloused hands and excellent aim just has a soft spot for messes in the form of human beings.

You know, since he is one to. Apparently it’s a Barton thing.

Darcy Lewis is 24, has a freshly framed college degree, and is going home with a former carnie who has a heart of gold(or something very similar to it at least).

 

Darcy Elizabeth Lewis ~~has been~~ was in love with James Buchanan Barnes her whole _youthful_ life.

Now she has her legs wrapped around a limber man’s hips while he grips her's just right and sucks on her pulsepoint like his life depends on it. 

She arches her back and he growls into her neck in a way he _knows_ sends shivers up her spine and goosebumps across her flesh.

Clint Barton smells like dog, pizza, this weird off brand cologne he insists on wearing even though she buys him better, and lately? A little like her. Darcy has soaked into his sheets, his couch, the hit of her in trails throughout his apartment. Kate knows how she takes her coffee, Lucky brings her his leash more than Clint and is just fine with being her toe warmer.

He’s even started buying her hair ties--the ultimate sign of love, if we’re being honest. Other than knowing her favorite kind of chocolate(white).

Except he’s still a trainwreck of a man, and it shows in the oddest of times. Clint’s fingers reach up and deftly remove his hearing aids with practiced ease,

“You don’t have to say my name.” The words he doesn’t say are just as loud, _you can say his instead._ and Darcy refrains from rolling her eyes though it takes all of her self control.

She pushes him up off of her chest and signs to him, because she’s a better girlfriend(??) than he seems to think she is-- _”I can’t think of anyone else’s right now.”_ there is no lie.

Clint can see that, and his lips crash into her’s and the last of his restraint he’s been holding onto these months has slipped away. All fierce passion and heat, that Darcy returns in earnest.

Clint Francis Barton is still a trainwreck of a man, but he is her trainwreck of a man. She is hardly 25, but the world seems a little more right these days.

 

Darcy Elizabeth Lewis has loved James Buchanan Barnes her whole _wonderful_ life. She has also loved Steven Grant Rogers, Natasha Romanova-Barnes, Sam Wilson, Jane Foster and Maria Hill.

Darcy has always had a lot of love to give, it’s why she started campaigning with the senate for several non Profits for Battered Women and Children several years ago.

Now she stands in front of priest, holding calloused hands in her’s meeting eyes filled with adoration and love and a smile that Clint cannot restrain. Of his many talents, hiding his emotions has never been one of them, but if there is any time that such a thing is encouraged? It is today.

Behind her sit her two childhood best friends, one her first love, the other her second, and their partners. With them are their families, the Rogers’ and Barnes’ will always have a place for her at their table, and even though all the kids are moving away, they’ll never be far from Brooklyn--not really. That’s how home works.

Maria and Jane are at her side, just like they always will be,with Kate and Barney beside Clint because if Katherine Bishop said she was going to be a groomsman then no one was going to stop her. Plus she brought Lucky, and who can say no to a one eyed dog?

Darcy Lewis is 28, and she has not loved Clint Barton her whole life, but she’s going to love him for the rest of it. That’s a promise, that’s one of her new constants.

  



End file.
